A FATHER-of-two who tried to use his mobile phone to peer under a changing room cubicle at a half-naked young mother has been placed on the sex offenders’ register.

Rizwan Mehmood, 24, had been seen wandering around Nelson’s Wavelengths leisure centre on more than one occasion, armed with his mobile but never with any gym kit, Burnley magistrates were told.

But he caused real concern when he was caught trying to peek under a cubicle door, where a mother and her four-year-old daughter were getting changed.

Prosecutor Alex Mann said the mum shouted out ‘you pervert’ and tried to step on the phone. She went to the adjoining cubicle and found Mehmood slumped against the wall.

Mehmood claimed he had been watching a video on his phone but her shout had alerted her husband, who was changing nearby, and he hauled the voyeur to the reception desk.

The court heard Mehmood would later insist that he had been using the phone as a ‘reflector’ and maintained he had not been taking pictures or film footage, a fact later verified by police checks on the device.

Mrs Mann said another eye-witness also recalled seeing Mehmood wandering around the leisure centre on two occasions, a week apart, armed with a mobile phone.

Mehmood, of Larch Street, Nelson, admitted observing a person doing a private act for sexual gratification, otherwise known as voyeurism.

He was given 16 months probation supervision.

He must also sign the sex offenders’ register for five years.

Geoff Turner, defending, said his client, who had no previous convictions, was genuinely remorseful for the distress he had caused and wanted to apologise, accepting he had acted ‘inappropriately’.

He said: “He is otherwise an industrious and law-abiding young family man.

“He is assessed in the pre-sentence report as being at low risk of reoffending.”